Monthly Archives:November 2014

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David Potts reminds small business owners that while luck may take you a ways, nothing trumps a good plan. In his article ‘Luck, Planning and Failure‘, published this week in The City Wire, David discusses the top reasons business owners neglect their business plans and reasons to get back on course.

Planning is a tool that can reduce a business’s uncertainty and risk. The activity of planning allows an owner to focus on the company’s future and to ask questions that might lead to a change in priorities that increase profitability or assist in the identification of stress points that if overlooked could lead to financial loss. It isn’t the final product, “a plan,” that is important to business success. What is important is the thinking required to create a plan.

Okay QuickBooks users, we are going to stay on the General Tab. The next preference we are going to discuss are in the Automatically Recall Information section. This is in the middle of the My Preferences Tab. There are two options. Automatically recall last transaction for this name, and Pre-fill accounts for vendor based on past entries. You can only choose one.

In my work, I like to use the Automatically recall last transaction for this option. By choosing this option, when I enter a bill or check, the previous amount and account will pull up for the vendor I am entering. This will keep me from using different accounts for the same expense. For instance, I notice clients will write a check to the bank for their car payment. Sometimes they code the check to a Note Payable account, and other times, they will code it to the Auto Expense account. If they had the Automatically recall last transaction, then the check would auto-populate the last account used. Of course, that should be the Note Payable account!

If you choose the Pre-fill accounts for vendor based on past entries, then QuickBooks will determine the account to use based on the account that is used the most for that vendor. Sometimes, QuickBooks will not enter an account at all. That’s why I recommend using the Automatically recall last transaction option.

What else can QuickBooks do, you ask? TONS!!! Staying on the General section, we are going to discuss the annoying beep option. On the My Preferences Tab, three down on the left, QuickBooks gives you the option to beep when recording a transaction. If you are in QuickBooks all day long entering transactions, this will get annoying, or you will learn to ignore it. However, if you have other people in your office, they might lose their mind. Therefore, I suggest turning this preference off. It’ll make everyone happier!!

There are tons of preferences available in QuickBooks. Finding the perfect settings is key.

Staying on the same screen, another preference I think saves time is to Automatically Place Decimal Point. I find this feature to be very helpful. The only thing to remember is if you have an even transaction ending in .00, you’ll need to either place the decimal point, or enter the zeros.

To save time in trying to figure out mistakes, I recommend marking the box Warn When Editing a Transaction. This is an internal control that makes you double check yourself before you edit something.

These are just suggestions, everyone has their own preference. Keep checking back for more tips & tricks!